The Momiji File (Gouhou Drug) -- I never expected that this would be the fandom on which I would match my recipient, but thankfully the prompt was pretty open-ended: essentially, what happened next? I wound up setting the story immediately after the end of volume 3 and stealing a recent plot point from xxxHOLiC to form the request the boys took on, partly because I think there would have been a lot more HOLiC crossovers had Legal Drug continued. It was an interesting challenge to write a story that could be read as either slashy gen or pre-slash, depending on the reader, since that seems to be a key feature of the manga reading experience. I also tried, as much as possible, to load up the fic with actual details from my time in Japan (this included scrutinizing the photos I took in Rikugi-en for the settings--you could actually go sit on the shamisen player's bench, not to mention walk across the bridge Kazahaya nearly falls off), and to make the dialogue echo the characters' diction in Japanese. Writing the story also made me realize how much of the slashiness in canon depends on visual humor and innuendo. Oh the power of images! And thanks again to nokiirat, whose insightful beta comments helped me get Kazahaya's characterization better. I think, though, that maybe my favorite thing about the story is the Suki Dakara Suki crossover. I justified it on the basis that Hina (and Doumeki, too) went to Waseda for college, and now in my world they totally do.

A Midwinter's Tale (The Drowning City - Downum) -- I'd offered to write Downum originally, and the requestor is a fellow tag-wrangler, so when I saw it on the unfulfilled prompts list I jumped at it. Oddly enough, it took me almost a day and a half to write, because I couldn't think of a concrete scene on which to anchor the first part of the fic. But I got to throw some Latin into my writing, and draw on my classics background, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Empty-Handed (Old Kingdom series - Nix) -- Another story about (maimed and/or missing) hands. I wrote this on my plane to Detroit on Christmas Eve morning, having paged through Abhorsen the night before, and I'm very happy with it. It's probably going to become the first in a little series of fics in this fandom based on YT prompts for New Year's Resolutions. The World Ends With You (the Michelle West novels - West) -- This one I churned out on my forty-minute flight from Detroit to Milwaukee on Christmas Eve afternoon, because I share the fandom with inkstone, the requestor, who totally knew it was me because there's about five of us in this fandom, total. XD I've read the other story written for this same prompt ("Indelible" by moontyger; it's good! you should read it!), and I think it's interesting how the two of us did completely different things with the exact same request. Ideally I would have reread the beginning of Hunter's Death before writing it, but c'est la vie. I did at least manage to echo some of West's diction from key scenes in other books. And I'm totally way too fond of the title.

Looking back, did you make more fanworks than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?Oh, way more! At the beginning of this year fanworks were not on my radar at all. I utterly and completely blame DW and the OTW and the AO3. Thank you, one and all--writing these were great, and I want to do a lot more.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you do that you would never have predicted in January?Heh, all of them. But most especially Gouhou Drug.

What's your own favorite fanwork of the year? Not the most popular, but the piece that makes you happiest?I still think I like On Alien Seas, and Shores the best, though I like The Momiji File a lot too. Both of them, I like to think, drew on my own personal experiences and views to sketch in some blanks left in the canon. And I like that OASaS is a Trek story which only once even mentions one of the canon characters.

Did you take any creative risks this year? What did you learn from them?Unquestionably the biggest creative risk was writing at all. As for what I learned...that writing fic is not so different from writing original material, I guess. And that really it's a vehicle for presenting one's opinions on the canon (among many other things, clearly!).

My best piece of this year:Same as the favorites.

My most popular piece of this year:Unquestionably On Alien Seas, and Shores, at least in terms of comment volume.

Piece of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:Well, A Midwinter's Tale and The World Ends With You are for micro-fandoms, but I'm actually going to cheat and say it's Concerning Galadriel…, which I love unreasonably but which sits oddly amongst the explicit non- and dubcon elfslash on the Archive.

Most fun piece to make:Eden Is A Place On Earth, because the song/anime pairing was cracktastic to start, and I didn't take it too seriously.

Single sexiest moment:I'm really tempted to say N/A for this one, since there is a dearth of actual sex in my fanworks so far. Probably when Rikuou grabs Kazahaya to keep him falling off the bridge in The Momiji File.

Most "Holy crap, that's out there, even for you" piece:This really is N/A. Clearly I will have to push my own boundaries in 2010.

Piece that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:A Midwinter's Tale, probably. I read a lot of reviews of The Drowning City carping about finding the characters distant, but I didn't, and writing the fic helped me get a grip on what I like so much about Isyllt, and why. (Namely that she is so damn proud and self-controlled.)

Hardest piece to make:Eden Is A Place On Earth, because making AMVs is always a challenge for me, both technically and creatively.

Biggest disappointment:Eden Is A Place On Earth. I don't really make mainstream AMVs, which are absolutely dripping with digital effects, out of a lack of time, money and motivation to put in all that effort; my stuff is way more 90s in approach and execution, which doesn't bother me but does keep them from finding a larger audience. Also, I typically get between 2/3 and 3/4 of the way through an AMV before becoming so fixated on finishing that I begin to cut corners creatively, and I rely too much on serendipity in clip choices. I deliberately tried to put in 100% on every second of this AMV, but I know I didn't, and if/when I make another, I am definitely going to try to do better, because I know I can.

Biggest surprise:The Momiji File, both that I wrote fic for the manga at all and that I deliberately wrote pre-slash, though it's pretty tame compared with the source material.

Most Unintentionally Telling Story:On Alien Seas, and Shores, because of all the personal experiences and opinions I drew on and/or discussed directly in the story. Though I think most of these stories focus on proud women negotiating what to do with their lives and how to fulfill their chosen obligations, which, well, yeah. :-)

Overall Thoughts:I want to write more in 2010. As well as sex scenes, like a real fanwriter. *g*